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October 2019 Group Read - The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (Spoiler thread)
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Bill
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Sep 29, 2019 11:23AM
This is the thread for spoiler comments for The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.
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This was my pick for the group read and one of my favorite books. Look forward to a lot of discussion regarding what is one of the best crime books of all time. Spoiler thread, so just shooting a few questions from the top of my mind:1. Who killed the chauffeur? Chandler basically forgot to solve it, whiskey for breakfast was not good for the memory. It did not really bother me, his involvement in anything plot related was answered. For my money he got sapped by Brody, plus he was disoriented after committing a crime of passion, all that leads to an accident. But it does not really matter in the greater scheme of the plot.
2. Which mystery was the better one? The porn angle or the murder of Rusty Reagan. I thought the involvement of Mona Mars as Marlowe's guardian angel at the end was a bit too convenient so the first half might be just a tad better. Though Carmen as a killer is a pretty good reveal in itself.
3. Last question How did you like the movie? I saw the Bogart one, was a good noir but a pale shadow of the book. Follows the plot pretty closely (except the parts it could not show because of existing Hollywood codes) but misses the spirit entirely. It completely lacks the cynicism and the atmosphere that defines the book. Movies like Double Indemnity or Touch of Evil is much better.
My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Aditya wrote: "This was my pick for the group read and one of my favorite books. Look forward to a lot of discussion regarding what is one of the best crime books of all time. Spoiler thread, so just shooting a f..."I read this a few years ago and I can't remember the details of the plot so can't discuss your questions in detail.
But I think your comment "...it does not really matter in the greater scheme of the plot" probably sums up my feeling about the book! There were a few things that didn't make sense, or I couldn't follow. I should probably have gone back and re read , but I was just caught up in the whole atmosphere and , as you say, wonderful cynicism of it. And even though I've never seen him in the role I was imagining Humphry Bogart all through.
I keep meaning to read more in this series, hopefully I will get around to it soon.
@Caroline The series is consistently excellent, hope you will enjoy it once you get around to it. Chandler is the best crime writer of all time in my opinion. And Bogart would have surely made a good Marlowe if he had played the character like it was written but alas it was not to be.
